By Kameel Stanley, Times Staff Writer
Friday, November 6, 2009

ST. PETERSBURG — Deputies on Friday arrested an 18-year-old student they say had weapons in his car while on school property.

Michael August Volpini of 6433 49th Ave. N, faces a charge of felony possession of weapons on a school campus. Authorities took him into custody shortly after 11 a.m. Friday in the parking lot of Dixie Hollins High School, where he is an 11th grader.

According to the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office, a citizen called authorities after seeing three kids who were wearing ski masks in a car in the 5200 block of 66th Street.

The vehicle was later spotted by a school campus monitor in the parking lot. A student was inside. The monitor blocked the car in and called school resource officers.

The officers searched the vehicle and found two Chinese throwing stars, a three-bladed circular knife and a ski mask, the sheriff's office said.

Volpini told deputies he and two friends had been in the vehicle earlier in the day "playing around" with the ski mask, the sheriff's office said. Volpini does not have a criminal record, according to Florida Department of Law Enforcement records.